On April 20, people around the nation will celebrate the enigmatic 4/20 holiday by smoking, toking and eating marijuana. According to federal law, they could all be arrested for using a Schedule I substance, a classification that also includes drugs such as LSD, PCP and heroin.

President Barack Obama supports that law, or at least has done nothing to change it -- and he could, simply by rescheduling marijuana out of Schedule I. Despite his past as a renowned ringleader of the pot-smoking "Choom Gang" while growing up in Hawaii, his administration's current position offers little sympathy for marijuana, regardless of the drug's legal status in various states.

According to the White House's official position against legalization, "marijuana use is harmful and should be discouraged." Obama has dismissed legalization as well, and while he's said that the recent pot legalization efforts in Washington and Colorado prove there needs to be a discussion, there have been no signs that he plans to scale back his aggressive enforcement policy.

LANSING, MI - A Democratic state lawmaker from Ann Arbor is ready to formally launch a bid to decriminalize possession of relatively small amounts of marijuana.

Rep. Jeff Irwin plans to formally announce his Michigan House legislation next week. It calls for making possession of one ounce or less of pot a civil infraction rather than a crime classified as a misdemeanor. That means the offense would carry a fine, but not the threat of jail time.

Other punishments – including for those related to intent to deliver or sell marijuana, or possession of more than one ounce – would not change.

At first blush, it would appear the bill faces long odds against passage in the Republican-led Legislature. Irwin acknowledges there are “some significant blockers that are going to make it very, very difficult to pass.”

Ari Adler, a spokesman for Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger, said the bill isn't going to be a priority.

"This may be a high issue for Rep. Irwin, but there are many other things facing Michigan that we need to deal with first," Adler said in an email. "Of course, if he was more willing to work with us on finding solutions for heavy issues, he might have a better chance of lighting up his 1-ounce initiatives."

But Irwin said there a number of lawmakers who support limited government and individual freedoms -- which could gain the bill some traction.

“I think that there is far more support than folks would initially think in the Legislature for this idea,” Irwin said.